The impact of cerium oxide nanoparticles on the salt stress responses of Brassica napus L.

Abstract

Dwindling high quality water resources and growing population are forcing growers to irrigate crops with water of high salinity. It is well recognized that salinity negatively affects plant physiology and biochemistry, and represents one of the most serious threats to crop production and food security. Meanwhile, engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) are increasingly detected in irrigation water and agricultural soils due to the rapid advancement of nanotechnology. Previous research has demonstrated that ENPs such as cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO-NPs) exert significant impact on plant growth and production. However, almost all previous studies were conducted in well controlled environment. Knowledge on how ENPs affect plant development in a stressed condition is almost empty. The goal of the present study was to understand the physiological and biochemical changes in Brassica napus L. (canola) cv. 'Dwarf Essex' under synergistic salt stress and CeO-NPs effects. Two salinity levels: 0 (control) and 100 mM NaCl, and three CeO-NPs concentrations: 0 (control), 200 and 1000 mg kg dry sand and clay mixture, were employed. As expected, 100 mM of NaCl significantly hindered plant growth and negatively affected the physiological processes of canola. Plants treated with CeO-NPs had higher plant biomass, exhibited higher efficiency of the photosynthetic apparatus and less stress in both fresh water and saline water irrigation conditions Overall, our results demonstrated that CeO-NPs led to changes in canola growth and physiology which improved the plant salt stress response but did not completely alleviate the salt stress of canola.

Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles Improve Growth and Enhance Tolerance of Broad Bean Plants under Saline Soil Conditions

“…On the other hand, 0·01% nTiO 2 supplementation along with salt stress remarkably increased the levels of not only proline but also soluble sugars and amino acids in treated plants as compared with those in salt alone-treated plants (Figure 4), thereby helping plants to maintain their water balance and growth in a better manner. The ameliorative property of NPs against soil salinity is limited to not only nTiO 2 but also nCeO 2 , which has also been shown to enhance salt tolerance in Brassica napus (Rossi et al, 2016). Hence, it will be interesting to see whether mixture formulations of different NPs can significantly improve efficacy towards salt amelioration, as compared with their individual counterparts.…”

Cerium nitrate improves salt tolerance of wheat seedlings by regulating the antioxidant capacity of chloroplasts

“…Rare earth elements (REEs) have interesting effects on plant growth (Ouyang et al 2003). It has been documented that cerium (Ce) is an important REE, which can protect plants against environmental stresses including excess of copper, cadmium, UV-B, and salinity (Mao et al 2012, Wu et al 2014, Rossi et al 2016. It also plays important roles in fighting against oxidative damage induced by various stresses (Wu et al 2014.…”

“…It is increasing evidence that Ce can relieve oxidative damage in plants exposed to a variety of stresses including salt and heavy metal stresses (Liu et al 2016, Rossi et al 2016. It has also been documented that Ce could protect Brassica napus and maize against salt stress (Qu et al 2013, Rossi et al 2016.…”

Nanomaterials and plant abiotic stress in agroecosystems

“…The previous agro-environments have multiple stresses like salt-affected soils (e.g., salinity and drought stress), polluted lands (e.g., oxidative stress), global climate changes (e.g., drought, flooding and salinity), etc(Khan et al 2016;Pulimi and Subramanian 2016;Rossi et al 2016;Singh and Lee 2016;Venkatachalam et al 2016; Joo and Zhao 2017;Rizwan et al 2017). Concerning salinity, it is one of the most serious environmental challenges that cause great decline in yield and development of plant species.…”